While music streaming platform SoundCloud is still experiencing difficulties, it shows no sign of releasing its grip on rap. As a way to share music for young rappers and producers it’s completely unmatched, and just a quick look across the top 50 most played tracks in the USA reveals all you need to know: it’s all rap, mostly from artists who don’t even remember a time without file sharing.

As usual, FACT has rifled through the best and the worst of rap’s current crop – from Post Malone’s wave of emo crooners to 21 Savage’s legion of eerie mumblers – and put together a list of rappers to watch in 2018.

Whut Da Fux Up?

Jay CritchIt’s tough having the weight of New York City on your shoulders. Artists such as Young M.A, Desiigner and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, who soared almost too quickly to the top of the city’s relevancy scale, learned the hard way, rapidly rising and dropping from view almost as fast. But Jay Critch’s ascent has been different: slow and steady, he’s taken a backseat to Rich the Kid and Famous Dex and built a following organically. Now Critch has the entire city behind him as he prepares for the next stage – with both his debut mixtape and Rich Forever 4 on the schedule for 2018, he’ll soon be inescapable.

KAMIChicago rapper KAMI is no newcomer – he was a founder member of Chance The Rapper’s Savemoney collective and put out his debut mixtape way back in 2012. But last year the 24-year-old artist found his voice, toying with synthwave on dark pop full-length Just Like the Movies and inverting the well-worn trap formula on the excellent Superstar EP. That EP’s standout track, ‘Payload’, has just been treated to a typically stylish video and is already picking up momentum; KAMI has proved he’s just as comfortable making rap bangers as introspective pop, the rest is just numbers.

Shoreline MafiaThe rap group is not dead and LA’s Shoreline Mafia are here to make sure you know that. Made up of rappers Ohgeesy, Fenix, Rob Vicious and Master Kato, the group have embraced their West Coast roots and made the sound accessible for a generation raised on SoundCloud. With songs like the eerie ‘Musty’ and the Bay-influenced ‘Bottle Service’ gaining traction and more ears finding 2017’s underrated ShorelineDoThatShit mixtape, 2018 should be a wild year for the collective. Having buzzing beatmaker Ron-Ron The Producer at their disposal will only help.Story Source: Fact Mag